The Book Haven goes to lovely Kraków!

There’s a reason for our silence. We have returned to lovely Kraków for a conference about the poet Zbigniew Herbert.

The international event is sponsored by the Józef Tischner Institute, and includes scholars, translators, poets, and others from Siberia, Brazil, London, Madrid, Rome. From America, Artur Sebastian Rosman and Humble Moi are holding down the fort.

So that’s why we’ve been so silent. There has been plenty of eating and drinking to do. Above, with Anatol Roitman from Novosibirsk. He’s a noted translator of Czesław Miłosz from Polish to Russian – so we met several years ago at the Milosz centenary. This is our first reunion. The event is documented by Artur (who, by the way, runs the Cosmos the in Lost blog).

At right, one of Artur’s shakier efforts, after plenty of wine at Wesele, a restaurant on Rynek Główny. The original building goes back to about the 13th century. This is a portion of a the original ceiling. One of many reasons it’s glorious to be back in Poland.